Harvard's Openlaw Files Amicus Brief supporting Defense in NY DVD Case

[ Thanks to Bryan Taylor for this announcement ]

Openlaw is an online forum sponsored by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The concept of Openlaw is to use open development methods to craft legal argument. We have recently filed an amicus brief in the NY DVD case with the blessing of Martin Garbus, attorney for 2600. The following was issued to announce this:
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Thanks to the tremendous effort of a number of Openlaw participants, we have filed a proposed amicus brief with Judge Kaplan in Universal v. Reimerdes. (The "friend of the court" brief is a chance for non-parties with interests in the case to present arguments.)

We filed to oppose the plaintiff movie studios' motion to enjoin 2600 from linking to DeCSS code from its web pages. We argue that links are key to Web communication, so an injunction would be a prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment. We also argue that there are no "contributory violations" of the DMCA, and that because DeCSS is legitimate reverse engineering, the original injunction should be vacated.
The brief is online at http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/DVD/amicus.html

Thanks again to all who have helped develop the arguments and write the brief!
--Wendy

Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.com
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Openlaw/DVD: http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/DVD/

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